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> So: Nintendo has complete control over distribution of games through their console; indeed much more total than Apple. Do they have a monopoly? How about Sony
by summerlight 6y ago
> So: Nintendo has complete control over distribution of games through their console; indeed much more total than Apple. Do they have a monopoly? How about Sony over the Playstation?
Nintendo and Sony have been actively subsidizing third party developers to attract them into their platform rather than threatening them to pull off from the market. This is possible since game publishers have much more negotiation power than App developers against the platform owner. The point is, being monopoly itself is not illegal. Abusing monopolistic market power is.
- SeanLuke 6y ago> Abusing monopolistic market power is. Apple doesn't have a monopoly over its "market" any more than Nintendo has a monopoly over its. Because a marketplace is not a market. Regardless, you need to be specific as to what "abusing" means. The FTC is pretty exacting about what unfair competition is via monopoly. What exactly is Apple doing with its (non-)monopoly that is illegal?
- echelon 6y agoApple and Google taken together comprise most of the computing the average human will do or come into direct contact with. It's also broad, generic computing: banking, email, phone, messaging, dating, job seeking, entertainment. If that isn't an entire market, then I don't know what is. You can't compare the Nintendo Switch or PS4 to that. Not only is there an order of magnitude more competition, but it doesn't match in scale or scope. Apple gets to tax you when you want to find a partner. When you want to watch a movie. When you want to do your taxes. It's not fair. It's suffocating.
- summerlight 6y ago> Because a marketplace is not a market. https://stratechery.com/2018/apple-app-store-follow-up-aws-arm-servers-intels-impending-choice/ https://stratechery.com/2018/apple-app-store-follow-up-aws-a... Ben already has addressed this kind of defense. > What exactly is Apple doing with its (non-)monopoly that is illegal? See the following article. And note that this is just the tip of the iceberg. You might heard about Spotify v. Apple and the recent Hey situation. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/09/technology/apple-app-store-competition.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/09/technology/ap... Not sure if you believe that Apple is on a safe ground for antitrust issues but Apple doesn't seem to share your optimism. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/09/apple-says-it-changed-app-store-search-following-antitrust-concerns.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/09/apple-says-it-changed-app-st...